Atheism
by Lord Mendasuit
Summary: Videl and Gohan go to a memorial for those who didn't come back after Cell. They have a bit of a talk while there, and Gohan comes clean about a few things.


"There are people out there who think you're an atheist, Gohan," Videl said, offhandedly, as they walked around the Cell Games memorial.

Despite the fact that many of those who had lost their lives in Cell's Rampages had returned, many, amongst them quite a few of the soldiers who'd met their doom trying to defeat him, had remained lost forever, for unknown reasons. It was widely believed that the return to life of all of those people was, in fact, an act of God.

"There are?" Gohan asked, frowning a bit. "That's not true, though. Well... I suppose it kinda is, in a way, but not really... uh... it's kinda complex," he said, smiling and scratching the back of his neck with his free hand, the other holding a bouquet of flowers that he'd brought along that morning. Videl found it weird, but these were mountain flowers from Gohan's home in Mt. Paozu, so she supposed he might've known one of the soldiers who lost their lives.

"Try me," Videl said. They had time to kill anyway. She liked to pay her respects to all those heroes who had fallen in the fight against the greatest threat the planet had ever faced, but some company and a good discussion couldn't hurt. They walked past hundreds of empty graves, marked with the names of those who'd been vaporized entirely. She'd been here so many times, she could remember quite a few of those names, and the stories attached to some, as she had heard weeping widows and grief striken children.

"I guess. You know how I'm the Great Saiyaman, right?" he asked, out of the blue.

"Well... yes, to be entirely honest, I kinda knew the entire time," Videl said, sheepishly. "It wasn't a very good disguise."

"No, you're very observant," Gohan said absent mindedly. "Anyway... you know I can fly. You know how strong I am."

"You lifted a bus with only one hand," Videl said, frowning a bit. "That's hard to forget. I'd actually been wondering... do you use some sort of technology or-"

"No," Gohan said. "That is only a small fraction of my true physical strength, which I gained through grueling training," Gohan said, simply, sighing as he turned to continue walking.

"Really," Videl said, skeptical. "And I suppose you could train me to be as strong as you?" she asked, expecting him to refuse.

"Of course I can. I was hoping you'd ask. I really worry when you go out to fight crime, you know. Yes, I know you can handle yourself, Videl, but if you get shot, it's all over... You're so strong already, with a bit of good training, you could become strong enough to deflect gunfire with your bare skin. I'm sure that you'd have a far easier time fighting criminals once you're fast and tough enough to catch bullets with your bare hands, like I do," Gohan explained.

Videl blinked. "You know, I kinda expected sputtering denials. You're being surprisingly straightforward and forthcoming today and wow I'm talking like a nerd," Videl said, frowning and shaking her head. "You know what I'm getting at."

"I do," Gohan said. "To be honest... all of this? It's my father's legacy," Gohan explained. "I... was really trying to ignore it, you know. I wanted... to be normal, I guess. I wanted to be like everyone else, and to forget about the stuff that happened in my past. I was ready to forget about Martial Arts altogether and live a quiet, peaceful life... Until yesterday, I was certain I would never again train a single day in my life."

Videl blinked. "But... what changed?" she asked.

"I noticed this place yesterday. I didn't know it existed until then," Gohan said. "... They have a statue to my father here."

Videl blinked. "And..?" she asked.

"I noticed that by throwing away all of that... I was laying the worst insult I ever could on my father. I was spitting on his legacy, treating it like some unimportant garbage I should dispose of. I was acting as if nothing he and I ever shared meant anything to me..." he said, "and I realized... because I saw that statue, right here. I remembered how much my father meant to me, when that statue showed me the great things he achieved. It showed to me how much he meant to this world at large," Gohan said, looking down at the ground.

"Gohan..." Videl muttered, at a loss for words.

"I was acting like a spoiled brat, to be honest, just doing what I wanted to do and totally forgetting the duty my father passed on to me. Heh... he was so proud of me, back then. I didn't see it then... I didn't see it for the longest of time. I was just... I guess I was thinking too much of myself at the time. I was being selfish."

"Gohan... you're not selfish because you want to do the things you want to do," Videl said. "I'm sure your father would've understood."

Gohan nodded, a smile on his face. "I know he would," Gohan said. "He'd be disappointed in me for a moment, but he'd get over it quickly. Dad was never one to let something get him down. But... I know that it would've hurt. That I threw away everything we shared, for so long, so easily... And even if he'd never blame me, I'll always blame myself because I know that I did more damage to him by discarding his legacy than any of his enemies ever could."

Videl frowned, unease eating at her. She could never imagine... actually, she kind of could. "I think I understand. I guess... I'd feel like a shitty person if I threw away everything daddy tried to teach me," she admitted. "I couldn't imagine doing something like that to him."

They fell into a companionable silence afterwards, as they both reflected on the words they'd shared.

After what felt like an eternity of walking, he finally came to a stop. "Right here," he said, gesturing to the statue that dominated the center of the graveyard, a large marble sculpture of a man with what appeared to be flames instead of hair, standing proudly, his arms crossed with a smile on his face. He had on a martial arts Gi that Videl remembered seeing on the fighters of the Cell Games.

"I remember this statue," Videl said. "King Furry demanded that it be built and placed here," she continued. "He always insisted that it was to remember one of the true heroes of our world, but nobody knew who he was or why King Furry was so adamant," she added, frowning.

"Heh... He's a good king," Gohan said, scratching the back of his neck.

"They say that King Furry visits this statue and leaves flowers every once in a while, and that even super famous people like Bulma Briefs has been seen leaving flowers here from time to time," Videl said, frowning a bit. "It's clearly the same person who first fought Cell after my father, but..."

"I don't suppose you would recognize him. Father's hairstyle when he did the feats that made him a famous hero at one point was different, after all," Gohan said. "This here is Son Goku, second place finalist in the twenty first and twenty second World Martial Arts Tournaments, and champion of the twenty third World Martial Arts Tournament. He is... was, my father."

Videl gasped. "This... this is Son Goku!? The hero who defeated King Piccolo!?" she said, her eyes wide. "The Undefeated Champion!? But... everyone thought he disappeared and retired after marrying Anonymous at the end of the twenty fourth tournament!"

"Well... he kind of did retire from the professional martial arts circuits," Gohan said. "Never retired from fighting, though. My dad... he liked training and fighting too much to ever retire entirely."

"This... this is amazing! And it explains how you're so strong and can do all those light tricks! Your father must've-"

"Please don't call them tricks," Gohan said, frowning a bit. "It really is an insult to Ki Users everywhere," he said, his tone chiding.

"But- That's what they-"

Gohan sighed and lifted a hand, palm up. Within a few instants, a golden ball appeared floating above it. "Does this look like a trick to you, Videl?" he asked, seriously.

"I- Er- but how-"

Then he tossed it forward and it impacted on Videl's forehead, bouncing off harmlessly and dissipated shortly after.

"I... felt that? But, it's... it's a hologram, isn't it?" Videl asked, confused.

Gohan shook his head. "It's ki. Life force. Call it what you will. It's the natural energy we all have. If you train to harness it, you can do all sorts of things, like that energy ball I showed you, to increasing your physical strength to the point you can lift a bus with one hand, and even-"

"Flying," Videl muttered, awed.

"Yes, indeed," Gohan said, smiling.

"So your father taught you this... Ki business?" Videl asked.

Gohan shook her head. "No, the man who taught me how to harness my ki was not my father. My father was... otherwise preoccupied at the time. But my father did teach me a great deal of things. If you want, I can teach you, myself, and you can see for yourself that those aren't tricks at all," he said.

"I want, yes, a lot," Videl said. "This... this is what you said will make me bulletproof, right?"

Gohan smiled. "That's right," he said. "And, with a bit of training, you can eventually learn to project a shell of ki around your body so that your clothes can become as impervious to damage as you are," he added. "It's really useful."

"I'd imagine," Videl said, raising an eyebrow with a smile. "Thank you, Gohan..."

"It's no problem," Gohan said. "After all... if you of all people start doing it, maybe you can convince your father to stop spitting on mine's legacy," Gohan added, smiling a bit.

Videl looked perplexed, until she remembered part of her father's PR campaign last year. "Oh. OH. Daddy... daddy was making fun of the last champion who wouldn't come to face him to defend his title last year, wasn't he..?" Videl said, nervousness creeping into her tone.

Gohan laughed a little. "Don't worry. Dad wouldn't hold any ill will over that," he said. "He holds no ill will over pretty much anything. Really, I think the only time I've ever seen dad absolutely lose his temper was that one time when one of his enemies killed one of our friends right in front of him and then threatened to kill me right after," Gohan said, stroking his chin a little. "He doesn't even need to apologize. Just... just stop claiming my dad's a coward just because he died fighting Cell, okay?"

Videl felt like the worst person ever. Her father was making fun of a man who'd perished fighting Cell without any sort of idea for a reward in mind. She hadn't heard of any of the golden fighters from the Cell Games making any sort of demand for attention like her father did. "I'll... I'll talk to him."

Gohan nodded with a smile. "That's good to know. Anyway, so-"

"You still haven't answered my original question, though," Videl interrupted. "Well, it wasn't a question, but... Anyway... You said you aren't really an atheist, but you didn't explain why either."

Gohan smiled and nodded. "Whoever tells you I'm an atheist is very wrong. There's someone I believe in. It's a sort of... human mythology, I guess, that only a few can see. It makes my every morning just a bit brighter," he explained.

"Sounds... interesting," Videl said. "So you worship a hero saint, then?"

"In a sense," Gohan nodded. "In his scale of values, he always put first and foremost the importance of a full and pure heart. On your feet, or beaten down into the ground... Always be a good person. That's the example he gave me, day to day and night to night. Life gave him everything and he gave it back double. Right from the get go, he offered you a helping hand... and a noble and pure heart."

Videl nodded.

"This man... to me, Videl, this man is God," Gohan said, turning around and gesturing to the statue of his father, as he left the bouquet of flowers he'd bought along on the man's statue, joining a few others.

Videl was stunned.

"And some day... I wish to be half the man he ever was. If I could be... even half as great as he was..." Gohan shook his head. "No, he wouldn't be happy if I kept striving for a goal like that. He'd say that I'm aiming too low. Yes... If I truly want to make him be proud of me again, then... I have to strive to be even greater than he was," Gohan said, smiling to himself and nodding his head. "That's why..."

"That's why you brought me here, didn't you? You wanted someone to be a witness to that declaration," Videl said, coming to a realization.

"You're a very good conversationalist. I like talking to you and I want to be friends with you," Gohan said. "And you don't make friends with people by witholding information from them and lying to their faces and... I wanted to clear the air. I wanted to be honest with you for once. So... I want to introduce myself again. From now on, Videl, I promise I will be fully honest with you, no matter what. Hello, my name is Son Gohan."

With a flash of golden light, Gohan's hair became that of the gold fighter and his eyes turned teal green.

"I am the Great Saiyaman. I am the Golden Fighter. I was there in the fight with Cell."

"You... you're the 'delivery boy'," Videl said, faintly. "You killed Cell, didn't you?" she asked, out of the blue.

"Yes. I did. I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends and my father... and it's my fault that my father died in that fight."

"I... see..." Videl muttered.

"Tomorrow's a school day. We'll set up a schedule to get you ki training then, okay?" Gohan asked.

"Sounds good," Videl agreed. "Gohan, I-... thank you. Thank you for trusting me like this. I... I promise you won't regret it."

"I know I won't," Gohan said, a smile on his face.

They didn't talk more after that.

They didn't need to.

Gohan said a short prayer for his father's soul, and then they departed. As if to prove that he was serious about embracing his father's legacy, Gohan gave Videl a cheeky smile and flew off into the sky.


End file.
